Toronto report highlights soaring apartment rents

Toronto report highlights soaring apartment rents

A new city report released on Friday says purpose-built apartment rent increases in 2017 soared to a 15-year high while vacancy rates sank to their lowest level in 16 years, prompting one city councillor to request a strategy to combat what he calls a “housing crisis.” The tenant issues committee report also suggests landlords are listing their units for far more than what tenants are currently paying.

CBC – CBC – Globe Newswire

Drewlo bringing high-rise view to Kitchener’s east end

A multi-million dollar development scheduled for an entire block in downtown Kitchener’s east end will bring an updated high rise look to the traditional low-rise buildings that have been in that corridor for years. Drewlo Holdings, which is planning to spend $80 million on a development in what is now a vacant lot, already operates 13 rental apartments in Kitchener.

CBC

Dunpar Homes enters TO rental market with The Ossington

While Dunpar Homes has been building houses across the Greater Toronto Area for more than 30 years, The Ossington townhome community is its first purpose-built rental development. Dunpar purchased the site on Ossington Avenue, between Dupont Street and Davenport Road in Toronto’s Bloorcourt Village, in 2007. The original intent was to build a condominium townhome community that would be completed in 2015.

Property Biz Canada

Dundee Kilmer builds new condos in Toronto Canary District

Canary District continues to grow in the southeastern part of Toronto’s downtown, with Dundee Kilmer Developments Limited’s Canary Block and Canary Commons slated to be its next two condominiums. “This was Waterfront Toronto’s initial attempt to implement a master-planned community,” Dundee Kilmer president Jason Lester said of Canary District.

Property Biz Canada

Designers seek ways to make quieter condos

When Diamond Schmitt Architects began designing a luxury High Park condo for Daniels Corp. four years ago, the firm knew it faced an unusual technical challenge: the sound and rumble of the Bloor subway that passed just metres from the parking garage. Drawing on a Belgian solution used for the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, DSAI installed a series of giant steel-encased rubber buffers.

Globe and Mail

Looking for the best return in the condo market? Buy old

According to data compiled by Urbanation Inc., the best increases in valuation across condo land in Toronto since 2012 were all in complexes built before 1994, and three of the top five earners were finished in the 1980s. Shaun Hildebrand, senior vice-president at Urbanation, found 23 buildings where, according to Toronto Real Estate Board sales data, units more than doubled in price as the condo boom gained speed.

Globe and Mail

Bazinga, Tribe use tech to link condo residents, managers

As a young boy growing up in Egypt, Joseph Nakhla learned at an early age the importance of community and connecting with neighbours. The founder and CEO of  technology companies Bazinga and Tribe grew up in  a lower middle class, small neighbourhood in Alexandria. The low-rise, five-unit stratified community had no rules.

Property Biz Canada

Foreign buyers’ influence on TO, Vancouver markets rising: CMHC

Mortgage data from Canada’s five largest banks suggests a rising influence on housing markets by foreign buyers – many of them young people funded by their parents. In Toronto and Vancouver, non-permanent residents represented nearly 10 per cent of buyers under the age of 25 who were issued mortgages in 2016, suggesting some “may be receiving parental support,” according to a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Agency.

Financial Post – CBC – Vancouver Province – Business In Vancouver

New home prices stall for first time since 2015

New Canadian home prices stalled for the first time in almost three years, another signal that the boom in Toronto has been slowed by higher interest rates and tougher rules for buyers. Statistics Canada’s index of new home prices was unchanged in December, the first time that’s happened since April 2015, the Ottawa-based agency said Thursday.

Bloomberg – Reuters – Toronto Star – Toronto Star

New standard lease protects Ontario tenants, landlords

The government of Ontario just announced a new mandatory, easy-to-understand standard lease for private residential leases in an effort to improve tenant protection. The standard lease applies to single and semi-detached homes, apartments, rental condo units, and secondary units such as basements. The form must be used for all private leases as of April 30, 2018.

Newinhomes.com

Shortage of Metro Vancouver strata agents worsening

As housing starts continue to soar across Metro Vancouver, a shortage of strata property agents continues to worsen. Scott Ponuick, president and senior strata agent for Surrey-based Peninsula Strata Management Ltd., said in December 2016 the Lower Mainland was in need of at least 200 more strata agents to help lessen the burden on the industry and existing strata agents working in the field. That number is now even higher.

Business In Vancouver – CBC

Alberta investor stoked on idea of weed-friendly buildings

A Calgary-based landlord says he’s looking to invest in rental properties where his tenants would be allowed to smoke marijuana after it becomes legal. William Blake has been involved with residential rentals for the past 20 years, and owns properties in Calgary and Grande Prairie. His buildings are all non-smoking; in the past, some tenants’ tobacco smoking habits have led to conflict among neighbours.

CBC – CBC – CBC – Bloomberg

Smoke-free apartment buildings recommended for all of P.E.I.

There is a renewed push to make all apartment buildings on P.E.I. smoke-free. The legislature’s health and wellness committee recommended in December the government consider including multi-unit dwellings within the Smoke-free Places Act. This would mean smoking inside and outside apartments across the Island would be banned. The committee also suggested the government begin with a smoking ban at the apartment buildings it already owns.

CBC

Vancouver housing: The view from Singapore

Paul Robinson was visiting Singapore for business in mid-January and decided to drop by a sales and marketing “road show” for the opulent new condo tower, the Butterfly, to be built in downtown Vancouver. The Butterfly is one of the last designs by Vancouver’s legendary architect Bing Thom, who died last year. When the 57-storey skyscraper is completed by 2022, it will be one of Vancouver’s iconic structures.

Globe and Mail

Bank of America exploring Canada’s uninsured MBS market

Bank of America Corp. (BAC-N) is looking at packaging riskier Canadian mortgages into bonds, as rules designed to cool the housing market may spur demand for the securities. The bank has met with Canadian lenders to assess their interest in supplying mortgages for the bonds, which would be backed by home loans that don’t have government guarantees, according to a source.

Bloomberg

RENX Columnists

Suburban growth vs. urban densification

We tend to support societal arguments that align with our own special interests. We want what we want, but are not prepared to see the other side of our position. We align ourselves with special interest groups that agree with our view of the world. According to 2016 census data, 53.6 per cent of Canadians live in single family homes. Saskatchewan, at 72.7 per cent is second only to Newfoundland and Labrador at 73.3 per cent.

Read more

Market Conditions

Ice District fuels nation’s largest condo sales jump

Edmonton condo sales saw the largest percentage of growth among key Canadian markets in 2017, thanks to a hot downtown real estate market. 1,289 units were sold last year, a 60 per cent increase over 2016, according to Altus Group Ltd (AIF-T) . “This significant increase was connected to the downtown condo market where the new Rogers Place attracted buyers to the city’s core . . . ,” said an Altus Group news release.

Edmonton Journal – Edmonton Journal – Globe Newswire

Nine things to know about Calgary’s multi-family market

While sales of apartments and townhomes through Calgary’s resale market were reminiscent of the same month a year ago, duplex transactions ramped up. The 99 duplexes that changed hands in the city last month marked a 19 per cent increase from January 2017, when there were 83 sales, says the Calgary Real Estate Board. An area CREB defines as the city centre paced all ends of Calgary in duplex sales with 27.

Calgary Herald – Calgary Herald

Multi-family investors casting a wider net

Is the smart money is preparing to leave the hot markets? When asked where they expect to find the greatest increase in value in the multi-family market, “outside the city centres” was the message from investors at the recent RealShare Apartments Conference in Los Angeles. In 2017, attendees responding to Capital One’s annual Multifamily Survey saw their greatest opportunities in the urban core.

GlobeSt.com

Taxes and Utilities

Toronto keeps property tax low, drawing concerns

Toronto city council rejected a push to increase residential property taxes on Monday, opting instead to lean heavily on the proceeds of home sales. City council voted 31-11 in favour of a 2.1 per cent residential property tax hike, meaning the average homeowner will pay about $81 more this year. The total increase is actually 2.9 per cent, once the city building fund is factored in.

CBC – Toronto Star

Keeping up with the condos in Surrey

The City of Surrey is hoping its low municipal tax rate for businesses will continue to attract companies to keep pace with its residential real estate boom. The average company is paying $21,995 annually in Surrey, the second-lowest rate in the Lower Mainland behind Langley City. The average business tax rate across Greater Vancouver sits at $42,902, and Coquitlam has the highest rate ($65,963).

Business In Vancouver

Residential property tax trends across Montreal

Infographic: Montreal homeowners were braced for an increase in their property taxes when their bills arrived in the mail recently. Mayor Valérie Plante’s administration recently bumped up municipal taxes by an average of 3.3 per cent. Most of that was due to an increase in the water tax — new money set aside to pay for the city’s crumbling sewers and water mains.

CBC

Construction

Victoria housing starts decline; builders too busy

The pace of homebuilding around Greater Victoria was slow to start the year, according to data released Thursday by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. With builders continuing to work on projects they started in 2017 and a continued shortage of skilled trades, the region saw a significant decrease in the number of starts in January — 100 units were started, down from the 175 recorded in January of 2017.

Victoria Times Colonist

Affordable Housing

CityHousing Hamilton sells 20 homes, building apartments

Hamilton’s largest social housing provider has sold 20 detached and semi-detached homes over the last six months. The city-owned CityHousing Hamilton agency sold the homes with the intent of putting the money toward building more townhouses and apartments. The 20 sales brought in nearly $6.5 million.

CBC

Ottawa building 675 affordable housing units

The three levels of government are investing a total of more than $74 million to build an additional 675 affordable housing units in Ottawa. The federal and provincial governments are pitching in $54 million for the projects, while the City of Ottawa is contributing about $20 million. The announcement came Tuesday at the official opening of a new affordable housing complex built in partnership with the Multifaith Housing Initiative.

Ottawa Business Journal

Cities, Towns and Urban Issues

‘Personal use’ evictions appear to spike in Toronto

Marc-André Giasson is joining a growing number of Toronto tenants who say they’ve been burned by a landlord claiming to need to their apartment for personal use, then putting it back on the market. Giasson’s apartment was sold to new owners several months ago, and his former landlord told him that they needed it for their own use.

CBC

Buying and Selling

Baby boomers prefer residential for investments

A joint report from Mustel Group and Sotheby’s International Realty Canada highlights high levels of confidence in Canadian real estate performance and financial returns amongst Canada’s urban baby boomers. 61% of baby boomers in the country’s four largest metropolitan areas indicated their real estate investments have outperformed other financial assets such as RRSPs, TFSAs, stocks, and bonds.

Globe Newswire

TheRedPin aims to take a swipe at RE industry

If you can swipe right and find a mate, why not a mid-century modern house in Leaside? That’s the premise of Keith McSpurren’s re-boot of web-based real estate brokerage TheRedPin. He wants to harness technology to transform the traditional real estate industry.

Toronto Star

RE/MAX, Landcor unveil value estimate tool for B.C. properties

Canada Newswire

Other

Riding the wave of home automation

Imagine yourself on the métro, checking your notes on the way to a very important meeting when, suddenly, you’re hit by the dreaded question: “Did I turn off the stove top?” Maybe you’d continue to your meeting, distracted by nagging worry. Or maybe you wouldn’t be able to help yourself and would rush home to check only to realize you had actually turned off the stove top. Of course you did.

Montreal Gazette

	RENX has surpassed 10,385 Twitter followers
	Recent follower R2Investments is a Canadian real estate investment platform for both debt and equity placements.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.